BENGALURU: Amnesty India said Friday its structure is compliant with Indian laws and the Enforcement Directorate raid shows "a disturbing pattern of government silencing organisations that question power.
"The human rights watchdog alleged that the government is instilling fear among civil society organisations by conducting such raids.
"We reiterate, our structure is compliant with Indian laws," Amnesty India said in a tweet.
"ED raid on Amnesty India shows a disturbing pattern of the government silencing organisations that question power and it is clear that the government wants to instill fear among Civil Society Organisations," it said.
On Thursday, ED conducted searches at two locations of the human rights watchdog in connection with a foreign exchange contravention case.
The searches were in connection with alleged violation of foreign direct investment norms linked to a previous case of revocation of Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) licence of the NGO by the Union Home Ministry in 2010.
Amnesty India, in a series of tweets, said over five ED officials had raided its office and had ordered employees not to leave, shut their laptop computers and searched their desks.
Our operations in India have always conformed with our national regulations.
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